The Effects of Environmental Regulation on Business Location in the United States

This article empirically examines whether variations in state environmental regulations have affected the location of manufacturing branch plants by the Fortune 500 companies. Using several measures of environmental regulation, no statistically significant effects of environmental regulation on business location are found. For most manufacturing industries, the estimates are precise enough to rule out the possibility of large effects of environmental regulation on business location. For highly polluting industries, however, the variance in the estimates is quite large. We cannot rule out the possibility of effects of environmental regulation on the location of highly polluting industries that are large enough to be important to policymakers.     

Growth of Incumbent Firms and Entrepreneurship in Vietnam

This paper analyzes the relationship between the performance of incumbent firms and the net entry of new firms by combining various theoretical views of entrepreneurship. Different regression models to treat dynamics and endogeneity issues are applied to test the research hypothesis with regional micro‐data for 61 Vietnamese provinces from 2000 to 2008. The main finding is that net entry is associated with the performance of incumbent firms and the overall performance of the economy. Incumbents' growth and gross domestic product growth induce changes in the existing production system and stimulate the creation of an economic environment more favourable to new firm formation. Consistent with the hypotheses put forward within the “knowledge spillover,” the “error‐correction,” and other approaches, incumbents may generate new entrepreneurial opportunities not only for themselves but also for the whole society.     

The Porter Hypothesis and the Economic Consequences of Environmental Regulation,A Neo‐Schumpetarian Approach

The Porter Hypothesis and the Economic Consequences of Environmental Regulation , A Neo ‐Schumpetarian Approach
Edited by Thomas Roediger‐Schluga, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing. 1704. 349 pp. $115.00 (Cloth). ISBN 1‐84376‐644‐247.
Reviewed by Cees Withagen
Department of Spatial Economics
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam     

Multinational Firms’ Location and the New Economic Geography

Multinational Firms ’ Location and the New Economic Geography
Edited by Jean‐Louis Mucchielli and Thierry Mayer, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 1704. xii + 238 pp. $100.00 (Cloth). ISBN 1‐84376‐654‐X.
Reviewed by Nicholas A. Phelps
School of Geography, University of Southampton     

Location of New Firms: Influence of Commuting Behaviour

In the entrepreneurship literature, it is generally assumed that an individual establishes a new firm in a location in which they have strong ties, normally in the municipality of residence or employment. We scrutinise this general assumption and show that firm location depends on individual characteristics, such as the commuting experience. Our results show that commuting influences the firm location choice. The probability of establishing a firm in the work municipality increases if the entrepreneur is a commuter, holding constant the type of region and unobservable and observable individual features.     

The Location Behavior of the Multinational Enterprise: Some Analytical Issues

ABSTRACT In the international business literature location behavior has traditionally been analyzed using Dunning's (1977 ) OLI framework, which focuses on the nature, role, and behavior of multinational enterprise (MNE). In this paper it is argued that this approach is now no longer appropriate for discussing the spatial behavior of MNEs, because of the fundamental changes which have taken place either in MNE organization or in the global and institutional environment for foreign direct investment (FDI). At the same time, the paper argues that current location theory from regional economics and economic geography is also largely unsuitable for discussing these issues, such that the spatial behavior of the MNE provides a set of difficult challenges to location analysts. There appears to have been some response to these issues from the international business and management literature, most notably the Porter literature on clusters. However, it is also argued here that this literature provides few, if any, real answers to the problems set by the geographical behavior of the MNE. It is concluded that a fusion of traditional economic geography approaches with a focus on the information and organizational aspects of the firm and the region under consideration may be a way forward for both theory and empirical analysis.     

Direct and Interactive Effects of Brokerage Roles on Innovation in Clustered Firms

Social network analysis has generated a great number of research findings in the organizational and management literature, in which the so‐called territorial clusters have often been represented through the network metaphor. However, while scholars primarily examine the network structure and the internal heterogeneity, we have specifically analyzed the diverse types or roles of informational brokers which firms can perform. We also posit that innovation generated by these firms is moderated by their own capabilities and, more particularly, we analyze how innovation is affected by brokerage roles and the moderating effect of R&D in the Spanish ceramic tile cluster. Our results show that different brokerage roles played by clustered firms have different implications in terms of innovation. Another relevant and related result refers to the interactive effect of brokerage roles and absorptive capacity, which becomes more or less significant depending on the role being played in each case.     

Innovation,High-Technology Use,and Flexibility in Small Manufacturing Firms

Innovation, use of high technology, and flexibility of response to customer needs are studied in two surveys of small manufacturing firms in New York and Pennsylvania. They are shown in both surveys to be separate and unrelated concepts. None of five industry-level classifications of high-technology firms, using SIC codes predict these concepts on a firm level. Only innovation is related to a sophisticated firm marketing program. and to export from the state.     

Industrial Innovation among Small and Medium-Sized Firms in a Declining Region

This paper explores the impact of new technology adoption upon the market performance of small industrial firms. Survey data from a six-sector sample of Western New York manufacturers are presented. The results suggest a positive relationship between new technology adoption and growth of exports, value-added, and total sales. A central finding of the study is that flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) confer different types of technical and commercial advantages across sectors. Two broad groups of process innovators are identified: (1) those that adopt new technology primarily to cut unit costs; and (2) those that aspire toward greater production flexibility. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the regional development implications that flow from the empirical results.     

Competitive Characteristics of Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing Firms in the US. and Canada

ABSTRACT This paper examines the competitive characteristics of small and medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMFs) in a Canada-U.S. crossborder region (the Niagara Frontier). Particular attention is given to the innovation and business performance of comparably-sized firms on both sides of the border. The results of two firm-level surveys are presented. A comparative analysis of the two groups suggests that Canadian Sh4Fs exhibit significantly stronger export and innovation performance than their US. counterparts. The results also suggest that U.S. firms face tougher competitive difficulties arising fiom specific national and regional circumstances, including shortages of skilled labor, higher corporate tax rates, rising import competition, and a more complex regulatory environment. The implications of the empirical results are discussed in the context of policy options for regional economic development in crossborder zones such as the Niagara Frontier     

Technological Change and Environmental Policy: The Diffusion of Environmental Technology

As concern for environmental protection is growing within all sectors of society, industrial firms are being forced to become more accountable for their actions. Government policies, in the form of environmental standards, have been designed to reduce the level of toxic pollutants being discharged by firms. In order to comply with these standards, firms must either change the nature of their production processes or employ technologies that reduce the level of effluent being discharged. This paper investigates the role of environmental policy in driving firms to adopt pollution control technologies. The policy addressed is the Province of Ontario's Municipal Industrial Strategy for Abatement (MISA) which seeks to compel firms to reduce discharges of industrial effluent through the application of the “Best Available Technology Economically Achievable.” The impact of this policy instrument on the adoption of pollution control technology in the Ontario organic chemical industry is examined. The analysis is based on interviews with firms in the chemical industry which reveal that environmental policy has played a central role in inducing firms to adopt pollution control technologies. The paper draws on literature about technology diffusion, especially the relationship between suppliers and users of technology, and examines the process through which environmental technology is transferred to regulated firms. The relationship between the suppliers and users of technology is strong, especially between the large multinational users and smaller independent domestic technology suppliers.     

Market Innovation Management of Firms from the Internal Auditing Perspective

In the conditions of market economy, the scope of firm's internal auditing is ever expanded and even covers the firm's operation. From the internal auditing perspective, how to audit and evaluate market innovation (MI), the key part of marketing management and innovation management, is studied. It is suggested that innovation elements, the degree of MI, region of MI, direction of MI, source of MI, obstacle of MI, risk of MI, be audited and evaluated. Finally, the suitable system of indices and evaluating method for auditing are introduced.     

A Comparative Study of European and American PublicHousing Policies and Its Findings

I studied the similarities and differences of public housing policy between European countries and the United States using historic and comparative methods. Public housing policy was put in place in postwar European countries and the U.S. Differences in the policies of these countries were that the European policy intervened in the housing market directly and thoroughly but the American policy intervened in the housing market indirectly by financial and revenue means. The key finding is that housing in P. R. China is an important part of the people's livelihood and the government should not completely pass responsibility for providing it to the market. China should set up its own public housing policy and change the mode of land supply and housing manufacturing. China also should adopt multiplicative means, including direct government investment and encouraging the social anticipation and planning adjustment to guarantee the housing rights of middle-and-low-income households.     

德国沼气工程相关政策法律与产业现状

近10年来,德国沼气产业在其国家战略决策及整个能源体系的构建中都处于重要位置,并一直引领世界新能源产业发展。笔者以德国新能源发展为例,深入研究了德国沼气工程产业发展现状与成功经验,从法律政策、工程分布、装机容量、行业监管、沼渣沼液利用等方面对其进行了全面介绍。通过对德国沼气工程运行体系进行科学研究与分析,为中国沼气技术的进一步发展和推广应用提供一些有意义的指导和借鉴。同时结合中国的基本国情,提出了适合中国新能源发展的建议。     

How States Augment the Capabilities of Technology–Pioneering Firms

State governments offer a variety of programs to assist technology intensive entrepreneurial firms yet there is a limited understanding of how firms use these programs. This paper provides a framework for categorizing state technology programs and uses detailed case studies to examine how these programs augment firms’ capabilities. It is concluded that firms made extensive use of state programs that provide access to university intellectual property and research facilities. In addition, firms participated in programs that provided incentives for faculty to conduct joint research with industry. Finally, state venture capital programs, though small relative to federal R&D grants or venture capital, appear to nurture firms’ development.     

Technology Search and Firm Bounds in Biotechnology: New Firms as Agents of Change

Schumpeterian perspectives on industrial change suggest a relationship between new firms and the regionally specific technological bases for innovation. However, the links between such firms and the knowledge bases for innovation are more implicit than explicit. The innovation process in new firms reflects both the capabilities found within the firm as well as information sourcing from without. This paper seeks to articulate the nature of change in relationships between firms in science-based industries and the technological infrastructure accessed to support innovation, as such industries mature out of the birth phase. Innovation is treated as decision making, identifying the firm as innovator and agent of change. Survey research suggests that a shift in the sourcing of information, and an associated shift in the character of information accessed, occurred with maturation in the study industry, comprised of biotechnology firms in the U.S. “Early” and “later” forming firms show somewhat different technology sourcing patterns. Interviews were conducted to help interpret these findings. Implications for industry development are suggested.     

The Spatial Structure of Large U. S. Law Firms

Large law firms exert a disproportionate influence over the structure and practice of the legal profession. The spatial structure of these corporations, including the distribution of headquarters and branch offices and their interlinkages, is poorly understood. This paper explores the geography of domestic employment among the largest U. S. 500 law firms using linkage analysis. It highlights the concentration of such firms in large cities and the particular importance of New York and Washington, D. C. In the international arena, U. S. law firms are highly influential. The paper examines the spatial distribution of overseas employment by large U. S. law firms and utilizes input-output analysis to explore the domestic employment impacts of foreign legal services exports.